Before I break down the aspect of her memories, I’ll get the smaller details out of the way.

1. The [false] start of a new relationship

When TaeUng (TU) rings the doorbell of the Yoo’s residence, refuses to relinquish his heavy burden to Philip Yoo and insists on carrying her (GG) to her bedroom, he’s under the mistaken impression that he and GG have a new understanding. He thinks that GG has accepted him.

Lol.

You see, before she collapsed at the bar, he gave her his Korean name. For him, this act is significant because it’s akin to declaring his feelings for her.

So TU lies to Philip Yoo (PY) when he tells the older man that he and GG had a “few beers to ‘build team spirit’ in the Foreign Affairs Division.” In truth, they did more than team-building. He made up his mind to pursue his goal; he was acting upon GG’s encouragement.

Remember this from Episode 7:

GG: Now, just do as I say. First close your eyes and count to three. Then open them, and whatever you see first, make that your goal. You should try it sometime. You have to pay for everything, except breathing in this world. This is one thing you can do for free. You just need to blink.
TU: (closing his eyes and opening them to see GG in clear focus)
GG: I’m not making it up. It’s true.
TU: (coming to a realization) Yes. I suppose you’re right.

He meant that she was right: he would see what really mattered to him, what he really wanted if he blinked.

GG: What? I can’t hear you with all this noise.
TU: It’s Kim TaeEung. My Joseon name.

Do you get it?

On one level, he shares his real name because he’s decided to go beyond social niceties and work titles and become familiar with her. But on a deeper level, revealing his Joseon name signifies that he’s yielding his reservations, better judgment, doubts and skepticism about her. To disclose his Joseon name is his subtle way of showing his trust in her and, as a consequence, becoming vulnerable to her and her feminine wiles.

Unfortunately (or fortunately?) for him, before he can say anything more, she passes out on him.

I think he’s prepared to let the whole incident pass if GG hadn’t acted up on the way to Philip Yoo’s home. Three sheets to the wind, she asks him to carry her in his arms – or princess style, in Korean culture. I call it the “bridal carry.”
He kneels beside her, and tells her to get on his back, or piggyback style. She refuses.
GG: I don’t want to.
TU: What? (sighing in exasperation)
GG: Hold me in your arms.
TU: What? (softly)
GG: I mean, I want you to hold me like this, too. (extending her arms) Like you did on the train.

This is ironic because she doesn’t know that the “princess” she envied back then is her half-sister.

TU: (hesitating)
GG: Why? You don’t want to? Ah! I’m having an affair with a married man. So I guess I don’t deserve to be treated like a princess. (sighing and crying) That’s not it.
TU: Are you crying?
GG: (whining) Just this once. Huh? Come on, hold me. Like a princess.
TU: (awkwardly) Huh…

Then, somewhere along the way, she asks if she can use his name.
GG: You know what?
TU: (tiredly) Yes?
GG: Would you let me call you by your Joseon name?
TU: (coming to a stop)
GG: Kim Taeung suits you so much better than Sato Hideo. May I call you that? (resting her head on his shoulder) I’m asking you. Pleeaaaase?

I told you that the word “Please” is going to be a persistent motif in this kdrama. The poor boy thinks they’ve “leveled up” their relationship because she wants to become familiar with him, and more connected with each other.

Hence, he tries to keep her head on his shoulder, i.e., jerking her to flop her neck back and leaning backwards, and he steps back when PY reaches to take the sleeping GG from his arms. He sidesteps PY to carry GG into the house. He’s trying to establish his relationship with GG, and to hint that he has now more claim to her than PY does.

Not only that, but he also escalates their drinking session into a brawl by daring to call PY “son of a bitch.” Whereas before he practiced discretion and held back his anger because he had to maintain a collaborative relationship with PY, now, he’s trading punches with the older man. He thinks he can call PY out for hurting GG’s feelings.

He also gets annoyed when PY helps GG detach a single perilla leaf from the rest of the bunch. He’s about to help GG himself but PY beats him to it.

Note: If you’re new to kdramas, the perilla maneuver became a viral debate in Korea about four or five years ago. Women were asked if it would bother them if their boyfriend was to help a female friend pick up a perilla leaf from a plate in their presence. Most Korean women said they’d object because a) they don’t want their boyfriend showing special attention to someone else, and b) there’s something intimate about his chopsticks touching another woman’s food. Most Korean men said the same thing. Funnily enough, we Americans consider this a non-issue.

In all likelihood, PY thought nothing of helping GG pick up her single perilla leaf. That is, he didn’t do it to intentionally get a rise out of TU. But TU eyes his gesture and is in a snit because he thinks a) PY is provoking him and b) PY has no right to help GG in front of him and Soran.

Soran observes him and guesses correctly that he’s jealous.

But what clears up TU’s misunderstanding of GG’s behavior is her use of his work title to summon him.

GG: Excuse me, Mr. Sato.
TU: (ignoring her)
GG: Interpreter Sato!

No doubt he’s peeved. After all that fuss last night about calling him by his name, she’s back to calling him by his professional title. She got his hopes up for nothing.

Lol. His side eye.

GG: Was there anything I did wrong last night?
TU: (trying to look aloof)
GG: You see, I don’t remember anything at all from last night. I hope you’ll forgive me if I did anything stupid. (smiling) Please?

He gives her disgusted look. I’m sure he’s remembering how he’d fallen for her because she said “Please” last night. He’s telling himself that he shouldn’t fall for her trick again.

TU: (scoffing) That’s because you haven’t sobered up yet. There’s no way you can’t remember. You’re too smart to forget.

My comments:

a. Do you see how he’s twisting it? She’s clearly not drunk anymore, but he maintains that her mental faculties are still impaired by alcohol since she can’t remember anything.

b. It sounds to me like he’s holding her accountable for what she said to him last night. This reminds me of Episode 6 when he got mad at her because she blurted out words like, “I like you,” and “Should I break up?” with such ease and nonchalance. He accused her of speaking without thinking, and “throwing words around with no intentions of standing by them.”

c. “In vino, veritas.” Even though she was drunk talking last night, he believes that her “drunk words are her sober thoughts.” That is, the alcohol lowered her inhibitions, so she was saying things which she really meant and truly felt. She was telling the unfiltered, unvarnished truth.

d. That’s why he expects her to remember what she said to him when she totally sobered up. In fact, he WANTS her to remember everything.

GG: Hmmm?
TU: What’s with the “hmmm”?
GG: It’s just a little strange. It’s not like you to compliment me out of nowhere.
TU: What? Have I done nothing but give you a hard time?

Lol. He still feels aggrieved. He thinks that after all he’s done for her last night – bringing her home, acquiescing to her requests to be carried like a princess and to be called by his Joseon name, AND getting a busted lip because he fought over her – she acts like he behaves like ogre with her all day long. She’s being unfair to him.

GG: You seem a little flustered right now.
TU: (at a loss for word because he feels more than a “little flustered”)
GG: Now, I’m curious, since you’re acting like this all of a sudden. What on earth did I do last night? Why do you want me to remember so badly?
TU: (bowing his head in defeat) Don’t regret it when you remember everything.
GG: Then let’s make a deal. If I remember, why don’t you grant me a wish?
TU: Out of the blue? A wish?

Same here. Her request is so unexpected.

GG: Yes. Let me make a wish.
TU: No. I don’t understand. You’re the one who can’t remember. Why do I owe you a wish?
GG: I need a little incentive to jog my memory, wouldn’t you say?
TU: But….
GG: Never mind, then.
TU: (capitulating) Fine! I’ll grant you one wish, then. But only one wish. That’s it.
GG: It’s a deal. You can’t take it back.

Obviously, she has his wrapped around her little finger.

2. SoRan smiles at PY for the first time

SR: I think Sato Hideo has feelings for SeoHee.
PY: There’s no doubt about it. So I won’t charge him for my medical bills. That’s not a bad deal to make up for busting my lip.
SR: What? (smiling a little)

Soran probably thinks it’s funny how the two men could act like little boys fighting in a schoolyard.

From PY’s point of view, it’s certainly annoying to get a busted lip, but knowing that TU will be in a whole world of misery because he’s fallen for GG AND seeing Soran smile make it doubly worth it.

3. TU’s “personal vault”

TU: You said you’d give it back once I found the Jongno Pawnshop. I will trust you. I’ll consider you…my personal vault.

Then, he proceeds to undress in front of her.

Lol. He’s teasing her because in his mind, they’ve leveled up their relationship.

But more importantly, he calls her his personal vault because he’s shared very personal things about himself. He isn’t just referring to the pawn ticket. He’s also told her his secrets about:

a. his adoptive mother’s abandonment,
b. his search for her, and
c. his Joseon name.

By the end of this episode, he’ll share with her his secret guilt and shame for not challenging Sato when he killed an innocent boy in his place. She’s his personal vault indeed.

I find it ironic that, given she’s a pickpocket and spy, he’s unknowingly entrusted her with his most sensitive secrets.

4. Suzuki ≠ Sin TaiJin, the pawn ticket owner

When Suzuki voices his objection to a marriage between TU and the rich heiress, Myungnam, SoRan lets his name slip. She calls him “Seogwon.”

He can’t be Sin TaiJin then.

This unknown man whose face briefly appeared in GG’s memories when the camera light flashed in the photo session could be Sin TaiJin.

Three men: Sin Taijin, Suzuki aka Seogwon, and Sato Shinichi. It would be interesting if all men had been in love with GG’s mother at one time or another. She must have been a femme fatale.

As for Sato, I found it interesting when he admitted that he had married his first wife for love, and his second wife for social/status alliance. At least, he had a personal say in the matter.

As for the Gugukdam female members, namely, Soran, Suzuki’s woman (aka GG’s mother), and Myungnam, their marriages seems to have been weaponized, i.e., they marry for espionage.

5. The lessons of March 1919

For the Japanese colonizers, their biggest takeaway from the Kyeamri massacre is not to let the foreign media discover the atrocities they’ve committed, are committing and will about to commit. The press should be controlled.

The moral precept, “Thou shalt not murder,” never entered their mind.

6. TU tells Yanagi he isn’t wearing his kimono

Yanagi: Hideo, I’ll leave your change of clothes here.

I think she’s referring to the traditional casual outfit with long sleeves that TU wears when he’s at home or about to go to bed.

Yanagi: (continuing) Your father told me to make preparations for your wedding in the summer.
TU: (looking back at the clothes on the bed) From now on, you don’t have to bring those.
Yanagi: Why?
TU: I don’t want to wear them.

Yanagi looks sad.

Cut away to the next scene. GG is in bed wearing a white sleeveless pajama top.

My comments:

a. I think this is TU’s way of showing his opposition to his arranged marriage: he’s cutting ties with his traditional Japanese upbringing.

He can’t rebel against the marriage so he’s rebelling against the kimono (or is it called jinbei?) instead. So far his father can’t dictate his loungewear.

b. There’s a connection between TU and GG’s choice of sleepwear. GG’s influence on him is growing.

7. TU’s showdown with Sato

Just so we’re clear: TU is not morally and legally guilty of killing the other boy. It’s Sato who killed the boy; he’s the evil one.

TU: Is this man, Ishikawa, really you? Did you really kill 23 Joseon people in Kyeamri? Did you shoot them, set them on fire, and behead them? Really?
Sato: What is it you want to tell me? Are you here to condemn me for killing Joseon people?
TU: Abuji!
Sato: Do you remember when I shot a Joseon boy in front of you, saying he was a pickpocket?
TU: (silent)
Sato: But you were the real pickpocket. Did you ever challenge me for killing an innocent boy back then?
TU: (silent)
Sato: No, you never did. Instead you… (flashback) … you took the hand I reached out to you.

Let me be clear here: Sato intimidated him. By shooting the other boy right in front of TU, Sato unambiguously demonstrated to TU what he would do to him, too, if he refused his offer to become his son or didn’t comply to his wishes. Killing the other child was meant to induce fear and distress in TU, so naturally it affected TU’s free will and decision-making.

Sato: You chose to become Japanese. No one forced you.

Sure, no physical force was used, but Sato exerted mental, emotional and psychological pressure on TU.

Sato: You changed your name to save yourself and survived because an innocent child died in your place.

Sato is blaming the victim here. TU changed his name to avoid incurring Sato’s wrath, and he survived only because Sato pointed his gun at the other boy instead him.

Sato: So why are you acting like a fool? (yelling) Is that Josenjing blood still running through your veins, Sato Hideo?

Sato takes a step closer to him. The camera shakes as if TU is taking one step back.

Sato: (quietly) If you can’t forget where you came from, remember who gave you this life of luxury all this time.
TU: (lowering his eyes)
Sato: However foolish you may be, you should know you owe me some gratitude. (exiting)

Let’s be clear on who’s the real monster here. It isn’t TU.

8. The pneumatic tube system as a bomb transport

I already mentioned this in a previous write-up but it bears restating here. I said that the pneumatic tube system allows for explosive devices to be transported from the original source location to the Governor-General Building (GGB) and the residences of the Governor-General and Inspector-General.

Instead of focusing on the Opening Event, the Gugukdan can recruit someone knowledgeable about the pneumatic tubes to launch the explosive from the GGB to Sato’s residence.

9. Last, but not least, GG’s lost-and-found memories

To be continued. Off to bed now.